Reinstate Aaron's Transport Costs For His Special Needs School

Thanks to everyone who has signed this petiton so far, we have had a partial victory by managing to secure Aaron's Placement in his Special Needs School, The Craighalbert Centre! This is an amazing result in such a short space of time (only four days!) Unfortunately Glasgow City Council have now, suddenly, and without warning, decided to remove all financial support to cover the cost of transport for Aaron to and from his school, so the campaign continues.

My son Aaron Cleary is a severely disabled eight year old boy with a limited life expectancy. He cannot walk, talk, or even eat and he has complex medical, physical and educational needs. Aaron currently goes to the Scottish Centre for Children with Motor Impairments, also known as The Craighalbert Centre. This is a specialist school which caters specifically for children like Aaron and my son is happy and settled there.

In order to get my son into this school I had to endure a year and a half long battle with Glasgow City Council and a two-week long court case which resulted in a court order being put in place requiring Glasgow City Council to send my son to the Craighalbert Centre for two years and cover all of his transport costs. At the time of the court case, the school was only able to offer Aaron a two year placement because they only schooled children up to the age of seven. Since then the Craighalbert Centre has changed its policy and is now able to offer my son a place in the school for the rest of his primary education.

Aaron loves his school. His needs are being met very well there, he is familiar with the staff, and all his friends are there. Aaron's educational psychologist, who works for Glasgow City Council, has admitted that his needs are being met there, but has been working to get Aaron out of the Craighalbert Centre - likely because of cost.

Because of her actions, I was forced to put in a placing request to Glasgow City Council to request that Aaron be allowed to stay in his school. Thanks to the pressure placed on the Council by this petition and your support, Glasgow City Council has made the decision to grant Aaron's Placing Request, allowing him to stay in his school for the rest of his Primary Education. Unfortunately there is a sting in the tail. Glasgow City Council have now decided to withdraw all transport costs from Aaron, with very little notice. From October onwards, Glasgow City Council have said that they will no longer be taking responsibility for Aaron's transport costs, which means that I will have to find the money to transport Aaron to and from his Special Needs school, which is twenty miles away, placing my family under huge financial strain.

We don't know whether we will be able to afford to keep up with paying Aaron's transport costs, and if we can't afford to pay to take him to his school, Glasgow City Council will be able to remove Aaron from The Craighalbert Centre on the grounds that we cannot transport him there.

I have once again been placed in the position of having to take Legal Action against the Council, just as I did two years ago. This will result in a tremendous amount of unnecessary upheaval for my family, myself and most importantly my son. Only this time I will have the added pressure of trying to find the money each month to cover my son's transport costs. Please sign this petition and share it with your friends on Facebook, to encourage Glasgow City Council to do the right thing and reinstate my son's transport costs so he can continue to go to his school.